Computer component



Nov. 11, 1952 Filed Dec. 20, 1949 P. G. CARPENTER COMPUTER COMPONENTINVENTOR. P. G. CARPENTER A 7' TOPNEVS Patented Nov. 11, 1952 COMPUTERCOMPONENT Paul G. Carpenter, Bartlesville, kla.,ja ssignor to PhillipsPetroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Application December 20,1949, Serial No. 134,051

3' Claims.

This invention relates to a combination of an electrical-mechanicalmeans which is adapted to receive a variable current or voltage and toyield an eletcrical Voltage related to said variable voltage accordingto a function y=f (r). In other words, the combination of the inventionwill yield values of y for each value of as, according to a function asexpressed above. In one of its aspects the invention provides a methodand apparatus for substantially instantaneously obtaining an electricalvalue of y responsive to changes in the electrical value of an,according to a function as expressed above.

."Ihere are instances in which it is possible to determine a functionalrelationship, between two variables, from experimental data, whichrel-ationship can usually be expressed graphically, whereas theanalytical expression of the said relationship is of such complexitythat mechanization of the expression would be highly, if not totally,impractical. The subject matter of the invention relates to the saidinstances in which the shape .or curve of a function, as expressed, canbe empirically determined, thus avoiding time-consuming mathematicaldeterminations or calculations, when such are possible, which areespecially involved in irregular curves or functions.

, According to this invention there are provided, in combination, meansadapted and arranged to yield electrical values of y for any electricalvalue of at in a function 11:, (m), which comprises a conducting traceor graph of y=f (5c) an electrically operated movable contact adapted tocontact or follow said trace; electrically operated moving means forsaid contact; means for relaying electric current from said trace,through said contact, to said electrically operated moving means forsaid contact to cause said contact to follow said trace responsive tovalues of 3:;

means responsive to values of as for moving said cont-act parallel tothe abscissa of said graph; and current varying means which yields thevalues of y in the function 11: (0:), adapted to operate correlatedlywith movement of said contact along said trace. Instead of a conductintrace, a non-conducting trace upon a conducting plate can be employed,in which event the contact will be adapted to relay current from theplate to the said contact moving means, which will move the contact backon to the trace.

Thus, according to the present invention, there are provided, incombination, electrical and mechanical means in which the values of fyin the function 11: (r) are plotted, graphed or traced,

employing a conducting material. An electrical driving force, responsiveto variations in the value of "50, is employedto move parallel to the :caxis or abscissa on electrically operatedmovablecontact'adapted to causeoperation, correlated with movements of said contact, of a voltagevarying meanswhich yields the value of y in the function 1: (I), Theelectrically roperated movable contact is wired or, otherwise adapted toreceive current from the conducting material, of which the said functionistraced, and to relay said current to the electrically operated contactmoving means in mannerlsuch that the movable contact will follow thetrace of conducting material, responsive to any change in'the value ofat. Thus each value of .x will result in a definite value of y,according to the traced function y=f (at). With the foregoingdescription available to him, one versed in the art will be able,readily, to construct and operate an apparatus according to theinvention. However, in order to more fully describe the invention, inrespect of specific embodiments thereof, reference is now made to thedrawing in whichFigure 1 isa diagrammatic 'illustrationof the inventionwhen a contactin trace of the function is employed; and wherein Figure 2is a diagrammatic illustration, of a part of Figure 1, showing themodification in whicha conducting plate and a non-conducting trace areemployed. Figure 3 shows the detail of the circuits which can beemployed in the relay control boxes 2 and I9 of Figure 1.

(In Figure l, 2 represents arelay from which is supplied a current ofvalue x, which may originatefrom a computing device. ,Thus the value ofx, can result from some previously computed functionalrelationshipbetween "30 and other variables of a problem. The relay supplies currentto reversible servomotor 3, which drives screws 4 and 5 by means ofcables and pulleys, as shown. Screws 4 and 5 are movably mounted inuprights or bearings 6, l, 8 and 9. Blocks l0 and l I are mounted uponscrews 4 and 5 and are arranged in combination therewith so that theywill move along said screws in the same direction and at .the samespeed. Thus changes in, the value of x will cause blocks [0 and II to bemoved to the right or left, depending upon the direction of change inthe value of, far. Blocks i0 and ll carry a reversibly rotatable screwl2, operated by reversible motor [3, which is mounted on block H. Apotentiometer I4,

I supplied by a current source l5 and operated by the motion of screwi2, is mounted upon block I0. A movable contact I6 is mounted upon screwI2 and will ride between the ends of said screw responsive to operationof motor I3 on block II. Reversing switches I1 and I8, which may bemicro-switches, are mounted on blocks I and II, respectively, to preventany overrun of contact I6. These switches are suitably connected, asdiagrammed, through relay control box I9 to motor I3 on block II. Trace20 is provided, as shown, and in this embodiment is made of a conductingmaterial. Contact I6 receives current from trace 20 which passes torelay control box I9 to control motor I3, as diagramm'ed, and operatessaid motor as follows. When a certain value of at causes motor 3 to moveblocks II] and II, causing the contact I6 to leave the trace 20,reversing current will be supplied to motor I3 operating screw I2 untilthe contact I6 is returned upon the trace 20. Each time contact I6reaches trace 28, motor I3 is reversed thus moving contact I6 away fromtrace 28. Also, when contact I6 moves away from trace 20, the formerelectrical circuit is opened causing motor I3 to reverse and urgecontact I6 back towards trace 20. By this arrangement the contact I6will follow very close to trace 28 at all times, and the small amount ofhunting which may result from this arrangement will be within thepermissible error limits of the computer. As stated, screw I2 operates apotentiometer I4, and it is now obvious that depending upon theoperation of screw I2, which in turn is correlated with values of x,values of "y in the function y=f (0:) will be obtained t ((11.11

In Figure 2, as already indicated, plate 2|, on which trace 2 8 ismounted, is made of conducting material and trace 26 is made ofnon-conducting material and the wiring is as diagrammed. Thus, whencontact It moves off trace 26 on to plate 2I, motor I3 will beenergized, causing the contact I6 to follow the trace 28 until saidcontact comes to rest on the non-conducting trace.

Reference is made to the drawing in Figure 3 wherein the circuits ofrelay control boxes I9 and 2 are shown. The circuit contained in relaybox 2 labeled 2' is taken from Figure 22, page 55, of the book entitled,Principles and Methods of Telemetering, by Perry A. Borden and GustaveM. Thynell, Reinhold Publishing C0,, New York, N. Y. (1948). In therelay box 2, an adjustable spring biased solenoid is provided to movethe tap of a potentiometer in accordance with the values of x suppliedfrom an external source. In response to changes in the value of w, thetap on the potentiometer is moved, thus causing motor 3 to rotate eitherforward or backward, resulting in motor I3 and related equipment beingmoved back and forth across the graph on plate 2 I With the tap of thepotentiometer in its center position, motor I3 should be positioned halfway between 6 and 9.

Relay box I9, labeled I9, contains circuits which cause or permitcontact I6 to follow trace 20 on plate 2i. Reversible motor I3 isconnected into relay box I9 by means of conductors 28, 29, and 38. Poweris supplied from an external source via two leads through the primarycoil of a transformer, the core 4| of which is movable, to the leads 28,23 and 36. The position of the movable core of the transformerdetermines the direction of rotation of motor I3. As shown in thedrawing, core QI is energizing circuit 28, 29 of reversible motor I 3and said circuit is taken to operate motor I3 in a direction to moveupwardly contact I6. Core 4|, the cores of relay 38 and of relay 40 arepositioned as shown and held in position by a downward bias of the lowerspring of the core assembly. Manual lever 39 which is mechanicallylinked to the coil of relay 38 is shown to have been moved downwardly,thus positioning the coil of relay 38 above its core. At this moment,the contact I6 (see Figure 1) is on the trace 26 having moved downwardthereonto. The circuit for the control of motor I3 is the same as thatdescribed in Figure 29, page 65 of Principles and Methods ofTelemetering, by Perry A. Borden and Gustave M. Thynell mentioned above.This circuit has not been modified but it is to be understood that theamplifier and motor control, shown on said page 65, are contained withor in motor 13. In using the circuit, now being described, I am notinterested in transmitting small movements but only in the reversiblefeatures of the motor and core M is used at its upper and lower limitsto control the direction of rotation of motor I3. To further carry outthis invention, leads 24 and 25 which are connected to contact I6 andtrace 28 respectively control the operation of electron tube 32 tooperate relay 3B. When contact I6 touched trace 2B, electron tube 32 inthe circuit became biased to cut-off interrupting the flow of currentthrough relay 36. When this happened the spring bias on the core ofrelay 38 moved the core of the relay 38 and core AI to its oppositeposition reversing motor I3. Thus the contact I6 will now move upwardlyaway from the trace 26, relay 38 will again function, and the contactwill again be moved towards trace 26. Thus contact I6 Will hunt trace26. If the contact I6 is originally below trace 26 (see Figure 1) thebias on the upper spring of the assembly of cores is adjusted to placecore 4I opposite circuit 29, 36 of motor I3 and lever 39 is movedupwardly to position the coil of relay 38 below the core of relay 38.The operation will then be similar to that described for the case whenthe contact I6 moved downwardly onto trace 26. The electronic circuit towhich leads 24 and 25 are connected including vacuum tube 32 and relay38 are taken from Figure 8 of Patent No. 2,354,391, by A. R. McCourt.Instead of allowing the relay to operate a switch as shown in theMcCourt patent, the relay 38 of the present invention moves the core IIof the transformer to control motor I3 as to the direction of itsrotation as described.

Switches I! and I8 are overrun switches which operate through relay I9to actuate relay 40. Overrun switches I! and I8 may be actuated shouldinertia carry contact I6 past trace 20, or should vacuum tube 32 fail tofunction. Switches I1 and I8 are spring loaded and are of the type whichare pushed to close and pushed again to open. Relay 46 is a large relaycompared to relay 38 and operates to move core II to its center positiononce either of switches I! or I8 is closed, overpowering relay 38 andthe spring bias. Thus it can be seen that when either switch I! or I 8becomes closed due to pressure of contact I6, relay 48 is operated tooverride relay 38, and the spring bias on the core assembly to causecore 4| to be moved to its center position. With core M moving to itscenter position, motor I3 then stops as the core M reaches its centerposition.

This circuit can be employed to carry out the modification of theinvention shown in Figure 2 by connecting the lead 24 to contact I6 andlead 25 to plate 20. To use the circuit thus described to carry out themodification of Figure 2, the manual set control 39 will have to be usedin the reverse sense of its use in Figure 1.

Equivalent arrangements for causing contact I6 to follow trace 20,whether conducting or nonconducting, can be devised within the skill oftheart.

Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope ofthe foregoing disclosure and the appended claims to the invention the;

non-conducting, of the function 1:) (r) the shape of which can beempirically determined," thus avoiding all time-consumingmathematicaldeterminations or calculations which are especially involvedin irregular curves or functions.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for obtaining, for difierent electrical values of 32,corresponding electrical values of y," in a function y=f (:0),comprising in combination a tracing or graph of said function on aplate, the said trace and plate having different electrical conductivitycharacteristics,

an electrically energized reversing relay, a contact adapted to close acircuit which conducts current to said reversing relay, the said contactbeing adapted to move in contact with said plate andtracing, meansresponsive to values of x," to move said contact on said plate relativeto said tracing, electrically operated reversible means to which currentis conducted under control of said reversing relay to maintain saidcontact upon said tracing, voltage varying means, and means coactingwith movement of said contact to operate said voltage varying means.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said tracing is made ofelectrical current-conducting material and wherein said plate is made ofnon-conducting material.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said tracing is made ofnon-conducting material and said plate is made of electricalcurrent-conducting material.

PAUL G. CARPENTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,121,211 Padva June 21, 19382,226,677 Vikhman Dec. 31, 1940 2,242,506 Brackett May 20, 19412,258,859 Mitelman Oct. 14, 1941 2,262,354 Oates Nov. 11, 1942 2,354,391McCourt July 25, 1944 2,445,041 Scholz July 13, 1948 2,461,667 SunsteinFeb. 15, 1949 2,462,263 Haynes Feb. 22, 1949 2,489,305 McLennan Nov. 29,1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 601,893 Great Britain May 13,1948

